


The Annals of Anaru

by Eroppai (FalstaffKisaragi)



Category: Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Boku-tachi wa Mada Shiranai
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Anal Fingering, Bathrooms, F/M, Flashbacks, Gen, Ghosts, Large Breasts, Large Butt, Masturbation, Menarche, Menstruation, Mutual Masturbation, Puberty, Showers, Sleepovers, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Vibrators
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-14 03:07:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 9,103
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16031726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FalstaffKisaragi/pseuds/Eroppai
Summary: Menma moves onto haunting Anaru and Tsuruko for a change. She can be seen through Anaru's Game Boy, since she has strong memories of playing it with her friends. The Super Peace Busters girls have a sleepover that's much hornier than the ones they had in their youth, with hormones and sexual tension flying. Though Anaru doesn't know it, this will provide her with a chance to make things right.





	1. Storge

An old Game Boy Advance SP with a sticker on it had been gathering dust in the back of the closet. A variety of games, from the biggest hits to obscure ones she’d picked up on a whim, and some she’d borrowed from friends and never returned, rested alongside it, their achievements encoded into the chips as memories of immersion in her fantasy worlds. When she wasn’t reading manga or watching anime, those were her other preferred way of finding herself in a world where she could be a hero.

Where her curly hair was seen as a sign of beauty, and her glasses meant that she wasn’t assumed to be an otaku. The characters in those games had been given her nickname, that then she had regarded with a sign of affection, and become enshrined as saviors of the land, collectors of rare monsters, and champions among the Chichibu elementary schools.

The Hero Anaru.

It was a contraction of her name, Naruko Anjou, and all the members of the Super Peace Busters had one. It wasn’t until she entered middle school that she realized how embarrassing it was, and tried to skitter around even acknowledging it, as though Anaru was some other person in her past. The mythical high school debut was supposed to put her past all that, but every time she came home, she saw her mother and the mementos of her past lying around.

Pictures of her childhood, of the other her, of Anaru, were all there at a moment’s notice. They hadn’t wanted to talk about them, for more reasons than her nickname. The six children in those photographs had grown apart, the catalyst being the loss of one of their own. Nobody knew where Poppo was these days, and Jintan hadn’t been seen outside of his house in a long time. Tsuruko and Yukiatsu were attending school, but their contact with the other members of the club had been limited.

Yet, she longed for those days. It happened to be today when Naruko would take the SP out from its plastic casing and boot it up. It still had her old Nokemon game inside it. She swapped that out for the Game Boy Camera. It was a small thing that could only photograph really small pictures in black and white. It had been major news among her circle of friends when she got one, but now it looked hopelessly outdated.

Jinta had been telling her stories about seeing Menma’s ghost. She didn’t believe in such a thing, but thinking about Menma had made her body shiver with nostalgia. It wasn’t the warm nostalgia of childhood joy, but a chilling sensation that nearly approached regret, stopping short of entertaining such thoughts. Still, Naruko wondered if such a thing was true. If it was, could see say the things to Menma that she had never gotten a chance to?

After recharging the SP, Naruko plugged in the Camera. It was situated at an awkward angle. The camera’s front-facing lens, which could only look in two directions, hadn’t been designed with the flip phone like shell of the SP. It was awkward, but it was the only game system from that time Naruko still had. She plugged the Camera into the slot with a tiny click, and turned the handheld on.

She made her way to the camera itself, skipping past the minigames and rudimentary photo editing software. The lens was turned on herself. She looked monochrome and pixelated, the details of her room washing away into a background that was almost avant-garde in its apparent blankness.

“Poppo kept trying to ask us to take pictures of naughty things,” said Naruko to herself. “Why immediately turn a camera on something like that? To have proof that it exists?”

She spun the camera around and took a picture of the front of her closet. The camera made a click and a whirr. Naruko looked at the rough image on the console’s screen, and saw that it was more than just her closet doors. There was a girl in front of them, not even past her preteen years, with long hair and a frilly dress. It was a visage Naruko had tried, with all her mental strength, not to think about.

“That’s...” She mouthed the word after, but couldn’t vocalize it. Naruko left the camera idling and stepped out of her bedroom. That same cold chill had come over her body, sending her into a cold sweat. She wanted to do whatever she could to remove it, and the first thing that came to mind was taking a shower. It was the middle of the day, but she didn’t care.

The hot water filled the room with steam. Naruko could only see her own body. She stared into the distance while soaping herself up, trying to look for sudden strange movements in the bathroom mist. If what she had seen on the camera followed her in here, she might break down into tears. Perhaps she was crying already. It was tough to tell with the water running down her body.

When the last drops of water fell, Naruko stepped out of the shower and wiped the gathered condensation off her mirror. Her hair returned to its naturally curly, slightly frizzy style. She had dyed her hair a few shades lighter, but when she looked down, her pubes were the same shade of dark brownish-black. Even if Naurko had made her high school debut, somewhere the girl known as Anaru was still inside her. She wondered if she’d truly moved on from those days at all.

“Naruko!” a voice called out from the hallway.

“Mom! I just got out of the shower, yeesh,” said Naruko, yelling from beyond the door.

“Your friend Chiriko is here. Wasn’t she one of your Buster friends?” her mom asked.

“Tsuruko’s here?” asked Naruko, the ferocity in her voice suddenly dropping out. “Give me a minute!”

Most of Naruko’s outfits were drying outside. Her casual, geeky T-shirts and her impulse bought, fashionable gal outfits blew about in the breeze side by side, providing a glimpse into the gaps in her personality for anyone who would have stopped for a moment outside her home. She only had one pair of underwear in her drawer that wasn’t being washed. Blood rushed to Naruko’s cheeks. Her fingers trembled as she slipped on her underwear, trying to cover it up with an oversized T-shirt that Tetsudo had absent-mindedly left last time he visited.

“I wasn’t supposed to wear this until that special night!” Naruko though, her mind racing. “This is no different from trying it out in front of Aki and Haruna. Will Chiriko go easier on me? Harder? What’s she here for? Get it together, Naruko.”

She ran downstairs and saw Chiriko in her living room, talking with her mother. Chiriko had brought her sketchbook and art supplies, and was looking as poised and composed as always. Without her school uniform, the gap in their academic levels was no longer visible. Yet it still lingered in the back of Naruko’s mind. She had been on shaky speaking terms with Chiriko since middle school, and it had only grown deeper and more intense in recent years.

“Naruko, what’s with that outfit?” asked her mother.

“I was in a hurry,” Naruko said. Her hair looked frizzy. She had only half-assedly styled it, and put her glasses on. Her glasses made her look like a dork, but Chiriko’s only drew out her intellectual side. Another pang of jealousy struck Naruko’s heart.

“Mrs. Anjou. Thanks for having me over. It’s been a long time,” said Chiriko.

“Shall I get snacks for you girls?” asked Naruko’s mother.

“That won’t be necessary,” said Chiriko. She stood up from the chair, hoisting her bag over her shoulder, and walked towards Naruko’s room. She gave Naruko a knowing look. She followed behind, trailing in Chiriko’s shadow even though it was her own house. They approached Naruko’s room, and shut the door.

“Yadomi isn’t the only one of us who’s haunted,” said Chiriko bluntly.

“You... you saw it too?” asked Naruko. She looked at her Game Boy, steadily blinking in the corner of her room. She grabbed it and held it behind her back, not wanting to open the lid until she was certain she could read Chiriko’s wavelength.

Chiriko produced her sketchbook. It was a sheet of black paper that had been written on with crayons. The bright colors stood out. A crude drawing of their clubhouse had been colored in, with “Menma” written above it in katakana. Chiriko turned the page and revealed a similarly-done drawing of herself. It wasn’t herself from her childhood, but as she looked in the present.

“This is Menma’s handwriting, and her drawing. Yet she couldn’t know what I look like now. The proportions are off, but this is a sign. Something must remain of her in this world,” said Chiriko. “I can’t trust Yukiatsu with this. So I went to you first.”

“I... captured her on camera,” said Naruko. She flipped open the Game Boy. The screen flickered to life, revealing a heavily pixelated, black and white photograph of Menma. She looked barely changed from their childhood. Slightly taller perhaps, but otherwise identical.

“That handheld,” said Chiriko. “Where is she now?”

Anaru pushed the buttons and pad, scrolling through the menus until she made it to the camera. The image appeared on the screen, showing the face of Menma. Her voice came through the Game Boy’s speakers. It was slightly staticy and garbled in places, but most of the sentence could be made out.

“Anaru. Tsuruko. I’m... right here.”

Naruko felt a cold breeze blowing past. The windows were closed, and it was the middle of the summer. The air conditioning didn’t feel this precise. Naruko looked at Chiriko for a moment. The two exchanged a knowing glance, and broke the silence with a simultaneous, confused shout. They felt around the room, trying to grasp where Menma was. Naruko almost dropped the Game Boy to the floor, only recovering it with a last second scoop. She righted herself, sweating, and wondered how to speak.

“Me-menma?” she asked.

“Meiko Honma. That Menma?” asked Tsuruko. “You’re in this room? I thought you were haunting Yadomi.”

“Jintan wanted some personal space for something. I tried so many things, but you two were able to hear me. Anaru, I’m speaking through your Game Boy! How is that happening?” asked Menma.

“I don’t know either,” said Naruko, hastily plugging it in to make sure that it didn’t lose charge. “What are you doing here?”

“I forget,” said Menma. “You two have changed a lot. And, well, there are things that I couldn’t talk to Jintan about. Remember how we would get together? For some girls’ talk?”


	2. Philia

Back then, “girls’ talk” was on subjects like deciding hero colors among the Super Peace Busters. Everyone took part in Jintan’s role playing. Occasionally, Menma would take the lead and they would make the Peace Busters a team of magical girls instead. Yukiatsu was eager to be a magical warrior, once he was convinced that it wasn’t just meant to be among the girls. Of course, stories of love were also common.

Naruko wasn’t familiar with the other meaning of “girls’ talk” until middle school. The five remaining Busters were still together at that point, though they had been split into separate classes. She was still openly her nerdy self at that point, even as the boys were starting to wonder why a girl was into the same things they were. She told them that in the Super Peace Busters, everyone was friends. But the Peace Busters were already starting to become little more than a memory, the shrine to their past remaining in the form of the still-standing clubhouse.

Until one day when she went to the nurse’s office and found Tsuruko in there alongside her. She had excused herself from class because her stomach was hurting. She hadn’t eaten anything strange at lunch lately. The nurse explained that Naruko was having her first period, and that Chiriko’s had happened during her first period. The two of them sat beside each other on the beds in the nurse’s office, wondering how to break the silence. It was only the two of them, but starting off this way would be awkward.

“I heard rumors that you’re wearing a bra now...” said Tsuruko.

“Yeah, but it’s not like it’s fun,” said Naruko. “They’re not even that big, why do the boys have to make such a big deal out of it? Jintan wouldn’t treat us like this, but every time I try to talk to him, he doesn’t listen.”

“Yeah. Everyone’s already telling me that I should go to that private high school. I don’t want to think about that right now. Let me enjoy my school life here,” said Tsuruko. “And now I have my period on top of everything else. All I wanted was to spend some time in art class.”

“Tsuruko, do you use pads? Or tampons?” said Naruko, looking away nervously. Even saying the words felt like crossing a barrier she wasn’t mentally prepared for.

“Pads are easier when I’m drawing,” said Tsuruko.

“Oh. I want to go with tampons,” said Naruko. “I’d rather not have to think about it every time I use the bathroom.”

The nurse helped Naruko find her first tampons. The girls still had something to talk about. However, in the third year of middle school, just before they went their separate ways, Naruko and Tsuruko had the last moment where they would talk to each other. It had been buried deep in the recesses of Naruko’s mind, only recovered by this sudden summer beast and visit from her old friend.

Puberty had caught up with Naruko quickly. She had outgrown her training bras. Many of the ones she wore now had polka dotted designs in a variety of pastel colors. She wasn’t expecting anyone to see them, but liked the design. It was simple but stylish. The further along in middle school she had gotten, the more she started hiding her interests in anime and video games. The girls around her were talking all about fashion. Without the Super Peace Busters meetings on a regular basis, Naruko had a strong desire to fit in with the crowd. She was listening for advice.

However, high school entrance exams were right around the corner. Jinta still tried to get the Super Peace Busters together for study sessions, but more often than not, the library meetings turned into an awkward experience. Poppo hadn’t shown up at them in months, leaving only the four remaining members.

One day, Chiriko pulled her behind the shelves at the library. Naruko hid her Game Boy, the same one she had been playing all these years, inside her cleavage, hoping that it wouldn’t be noticed. She had been looking for friends to play with, and worked on single player games during class.

“I’m not slacking off,” said Naruko. “I only do this after I’ve finished my work. You don’t need to get on my case.”

“Yukiatsu and I are being recommended for an elite high school. Do you know what kind of grades we need to get in there?” asked Chiriko sternly.

“I don’t see how this concerns me,” said Naruko. “Jintan and I are going to public school. We’ve all been together these past several years, in spite of everything. You’re the one who’s not sticking with us.”

“Your grades are none of my concern,” said Chiriko. “You’re distracting Yukiatsu.”

“I’m not even talking to him. He’s so cold and distant,” said Naruko. “At least Jintan’s trying to get along!”

“It’s your cleavage,” said Chiriko bluntly. “If it wasn’t for me, Yukiatsu’s libido would distract him from his studying. Take your games somewhere else. You’ll have all the time you need to play them once you’re in your school.”

“I can’t help this,” said Naruko, leaning back against the bookshelves. “Every time I’ve asked if you want to go bra shopping, you turn me down. I know we can’t get together like old times, but we’re the only girls left from the Super Peace Busters!”

“The Busters dissolved years ago. What we are now is just a group of friends,” said Chiriko. “I’m not even sure we’re that anymore.”

Naruko would be the only one to go to high school. Jintan had only attended school for the minimum amount of days to pass, and nobody knew where Poppo had gone off to. Naruko never heard from Tsuruko and Yukiatsu after they went to separate schools.

On her first day, she met with Aki and Haruna. They looked like the sort of gals Naruko had been trying to emulate. When they asked about her middle school, Naruko mostly dodged the question. She had too many painful memories that she didn’t want to bring up. Any discussion of her otaku side would eventually lead into them pressing on other matters, such as Menma, or if she had any other friends at school.

* * *

 

“Girls’ talk?” asked Naruko.

“I passed away before I could hit puberty,” said Menma. “We were learning about it a bit in class. I always wondered what kind of woman I would be. I would show them that I’m not some weird outsider. I’m not, am I?”

“Of course not,” said Naruko, speaking passionately into her Game Boy. “You’re our friend!”

“I almost didn’t recognize you,” said Menma’s voice. “Maybe Tsuruko. Her hair’s longer and she’s got glasses, but she looks mostly the same.”

Tsuruko wasn’t sure how to respond. She didn’t, and started drawing something in her sketchbook. Naruko tried to get up from her bed and look over, but Tsuruko refused to show the contents of her sketchbook until it was done. Naruko said nothing, and returned to her conversation with Menma.

“You look so different. Like an adult,” said Menma. “Where’d your glasses go? I liked you with glasses, Anaru. They made you look smart.”

“ _Look_ smart,” said Tsuruko under her breath.

“I still wear them sometimes,” said Naruko. “But it’s not fashionable if you’re wearing glasses. I’d look like a dork. That’s not fashionable.”

“What does ‘fashionable’ mean among your friends?” asked Tsuruko. “I wanted to talk to you about Menma. That could take the entire night.”

“A sleepover?” said Naruko, with her voice and Menma’s tinny digital voice overlapping.

“Yay! We haven’t done one of those in a long time!” said Menma.

“I’ll go tell mom to prepare an extra portion,” said Naruko.

Tsuruko looked at her notebook. She could still faintly hear Menma’s voice, but had seen no physical sign of her presence. The idea that Jinta wasn’t lying, that the ghost of their childhood friend was among them, was doubtful to her. Her brain was running wild, full of conflicting thoughts.

“I’m going to take a shower,” said Tsuruko.

“I’m coming in with you,” said Menma. “I guess you’re like my big sister now. I’m not very good, but I’ll wash you, Tsuruko. You can sit and relax.”

“Th-thanks,” said Tsuruko nervously.

It’s not like this was the first time Tsuruko had ever slept over at Anaru’s house. The three girls from the Super Peace Busters had sleepovers all the time when they were younger. Naruko’s house was everyone’s favorite, because she had all the best video games and comics for them to read and play with. Menma’s house always meant dealing with her little brother, and Tsuruko’s house was a lot more formal. It had been a few years since Tsuruko had walked these halls, but the layout of the house still felt familiar. Like her younger self was guiding her through the halls.

Tsuruko had finished getting undressed, with only her panties remaining. Her panties looked fuller than usual. They were filled with her pad. It was that time of the month once again. She had been going much slower than usual with her drawings, only adding a line here or some shading there. It was difficult to focus when she wanted to grab her stomach and curl up. The added stress of the past few days with the Menma situation did not help.

“What is that, Tsuruko?” asked Menma, peeking around the corner. Yet, Tsuruko couldn’t hear her. The only way she could get through was Tsuruko’s sketchbook, and she wasn’t about to bring that into the shower. Still, Menma followed her lead, waiting in the outside room as the shower began to steam up.

Tsuruko stepped inside, letting the hot water wash over her body. She couldn’t see much beyond the steam without her glasses. Only the white walls of the shower, and a red whirlpool circling the drain. The hot water calmed her. She could let the water handle her period while she stood beneath the hot water and thought for a moment.

The comments she had been seeing Menma leave on her drawings reminded her of the old days, back in the clubhouse. Menma wasn’t much of an art critic, and Tsuruko’s skills were still developing. Yet, she said that every landscape and attempt at drawing a person was “pretty.” It gave Tsuruko the motivation to keep on sketching. It took her until her second year of middle school to get that motivation back, this time relying on her own will and the comments of her art teachers.

Tsuruko tried to back up, only to feel something small hit against her butt. She looked behind her. She should have been the only person in the shower. She wasn’t going to invite Naruko in with her, and certainly not now. Yet she could still feel something, that felt like warm, wet skin. The faint shape of a human figure could be seen amongst the steam in the shower.

“Menma!?” said Tsuruko, speaking so loudly she could be heard outside.

Menma reached through the steam and wrote a simple two katakana into the glass door. “Yes.” The message remained legible long enough for Tsuruko to process it, before fading once again into the steam.

“You weren’t feeling well. I wanted to help you,” said Menma, even knowing she couldn’t be heard. “Where does it hurt?”

Menma stood on her tiptoes and reached up for Tsuruko’s armpits. Tsuruko felt a sudden tickling sensation. She grabbed onto the walls of the shower, trying not to slip. Menma withdrew her hands, amazed at the armpit hair Tsuruko had grown in the years since she was alive.

“That’s too high,” Menma thought. “Where do periods come from?”

Menma cupped her hands around Tsuruko’s breasts. They weren’t as big as Anaru’s, but Tsuruko was taken by surprise when she felt something clumsily massaging her breasts. The hands didn’t care for finding her nipples, or have any awareness of where she was sensitive. They were clumsily moving up and down, occasionally squeezing them. Tsuruko tried to wrap her hands around something that wasn’t there, removing Menma’s grip from her body.

“Not there. Please, not there,” said Tsuruko. “That’s too much.”

“I’m sorry!” Menma said, feeling like she was going to cry. She placed her hands around Tsuruko’s stomach, putting her head into her back. Tsuruko could faintly feel the transient warmth of Menma’s body behind her. She let her keep going. It was an awkward hug, cascaded by slowly cooling water, but there was genuine affection in it that she hadn’t expected to receive for a long time.

“It’s a little lower,” Tsuruko said. “I get cramps there. Push in gently. Don’t be afraid of the blood. That means I’m feeling better.”

Menma replied in the shower window once again. “Okay!”

Tsuruko grunted as Menma moved her hands down, past her navel and towards her abdomen. Menma stopped just short of brushing against Tsuruko’s pubic hair, rubbing her stomach in slow, circular motions. The last of her flow spun down the drain, leaving Tsuruko exhausted and relieved. She asked if Menma wanted to help wash her back, and the ghost in the mist happily replied.

After sliding another pad into her panties, Tsuruko went looking for the bathroom. The pressure applied to her waist made her want to pee. She walked down the hall, opening the door to the Anjou house’s bathroom. Tsuruko held the door open in surprise, not expecting what she saw inside.

Naruko, her hair tied back into her familiar twintails, was sitting on the toilet naked. Her arms were at her sides, exposing her bosom and waist to Tsuruko. A loud, squeaking noise echoed in the toilet bowl. The room was filled with a rank smell and the sound of Naruko’s strained grunting. Tsuruko thought she heard something hit the water, and tried to close the door. She lifted her glasses, hastily trying to act as though she had seen nothing.

“I didn’t know you... did that,” said Tsuruko.

“This is my house! Give me some privacy!” Naruko said, slamming the door, pushing Tsuruko out to the hallway.


	3. Eros

Dinner was awkward. Mrs. Anjou made light conversation with Tsuruko, asking her how things were going at her high school. Neither Naruko nor Tsuruko said a word to each other until they got back to Naruko’s room. After dinner, Naruko had asked her mom to prepare two sleeping bags for her bedroom. She gave the excuse that she wanted to sleep on the floor, but the truth is that one of them was for Menma.

Tsuruko had borrowed a pair of pajamas from Naruko. They were freshly washed and comfortable, if a little big in the chest. Tsuruko sat in her sleeping bag while Naruko kept her Game Boy Camera running, giving Menma a presence in the room that she would otherwise lack.

“The carpet doesn’t match the drapes,” said Tsuruko.

“Why did you have to see that?” said Naruko, her face muffled by the pillow. “I wanted to change my clothes, but I had to...”

“You can try to style yourself differently, but you’re still curly, brown-haired Anaru,” said Tsuruko. “Are you that afraid you’ll end up like your mother?”

“I like my mom, okay!” Naruko said. “But do you really think I’d get anywhere if I stayed shy, nerdy Anaru? Why did I not notice that name was so embarrassing?”

Tsuruko placed aside her sketchbook, and looked towards the bed. “During middle school, I always thought you were sort of interesting. You weren’t going to imitate an honor student like me, and without Menma around, I thought your Akiba-style looks were kind of quirky cute. In a dorky kind of way.”

“That’s why I changed!” said Naruko. “Stop doing this.”

Menma interrupted the conversation. Her voice came through the Game Boy’s speakers, interjecting with a naive curiosity that broke through the defenses the two had been putting up.

“Anaru’s room is very pretty. Her carpet and her curtains are cute. It’s a lot like her!” said Menma.

“That’s not what we’re talking about,” said Naruko. “Though I guess we’re even. Jintan told me that Poppo tried to take him on a jungle cruise. He wasn’t interested.”

“That’s not fair,” said Tsuruko. “We haven’t seen Poppo in years, and now that he’s back, they’re not interested in doing male bonding? If you leave a man without any guys he can bond with, things take a weird turn. Like what Yukiatsu’s been doing.”

“What has he been doing?” asked Naruko and Menma at the same time.

“That’s none of your business,” said Tsuruko. “If Yadomi and Poppo can do it, then we oughta be able to as well. Come, Anaru. Let’s go on a jungle cruise!”

“You do know why it’s called that, right?” said Naruko. “If it’s only girls, it’d be something else. Diving for shells.”

“Like when we went to the beach!” said Menma’s voice.

Tsuruko corrected her once again. “That’s... not quite it. Naruko, I’ve been on my period the past few days, and I’ve been thinking. I read somewhere that masturbation helps you feel better. I’m sure your friends have taught you all about that.”

Naruko hid her head under her pillow. “No!” She peeked her head out. “But I’m sort of interested. Poppo’s been bringing all these porn mags to the secret base, and the place kinda smells like his semen. I peeked at the magazines because I was curious, and now I don’t know where to direct all this horniness.”

“Girls’ talk, girls’ talk!” Menma said, her voice resounding from the Game Boy.

“I’ll be nice. For tonight. I am your guest, after all,” said Tsuruko. “But we have to keep it quiet. If your mom barges in, I don’t know if we’ll be able to send Menma to rest at all!”

“It’s not like I want to get caught, either,” said Naruko. “It’s already happened once.”

“Menma’s already seen you two bathing and showering. It’s nothing she hasn’t seen before,” said Menma. “Anaru, Tsuruko...”

“I’ll show you mine if you show me yours!” said Naruko and Tsuruko at the same time. The waiting game remained. Tsuruko thought Naruko would be less embarrassed, while Naruko believed that Tsuruko had already lost her virginity to Yukiatsu, and thus had nothing to be nervous about.

Their pajama tops hit the floor, leaving their breasts exposed. Both of them covered their chests with their hands, nervously looking in the other direction. Naruko was the first to lower her hands, letting her ample breasts fall with a fleshy slapping noise. Her nipples, a shade of coral pink, were already erect from sitting beneath the air conditioner in her room. Though they were slowly becoming aroused from the sexual tension in the room as well.

“Well...?” Naruko said.

“I knew they were big, but you’re stacked,” said Tsuruko. “How many cup sizes have you gone up since middle school?”

“I’m still at a size where I can find good-looking bras, okay?” Naruko said.

Tsuruko, feeling the tension in the room drop, released her hands. Her bosom was slightly bigger than a handful, with reddish-pink nipples and bigger areolae than Naruko was expecting. They wouldn’t show through the edges of her bra, but they stood out on her modestly-sized chest.

The two of them sat opposite each other, in only their underwear, looking at each others’ bodies for the first time in a while. Those days in the nurse’s office felt like a lifetime ago. Now, they could see that neither of them was as perfect as the other had expected. Though a great amount of nervousness remained around taking off the rest of their clothes. Naruko knew that her parents were asleep by now, and the night as theirs.

“You’re still pudgy,” said Tsuruko. “I can see your stomach hugging the sides of your panties.”

“That’s only because I have a fantastic ass,” said Naruko. “You look so slender that I’m wondering if you’re okay. You can take a break from your art to eat, you know. It’s not like people are going to be looking at you.”

“So you expect them to look at you?” asked Tsuruko.

“That’s why I made myself so fashionable,” said Naruko. “With a rockin’ bod like mine, Aki and Haruna said that I should use it. Though I’ve never had a boyfriend...”

“Have Aki and Haruna had boyfriends?” asked Tsuruko, her tone of voice getting sterner.

“They’ve let some boys touch them, but that’s it,” said Naruko. “At least I have friends.”

“Even if you can’t get a boy to touch you, have you ever touched yourself?” asked Tsuruko.

“Of course I’ve touched myself! And I’ll do it right now, because whenever I think of Jintan, I get horny, okay? I’ve seen him getting out of the bath, and he’s looking really manly. If he cleaned himself up, I’d totally be banging him right now,” said Naruko. She had gotten so caught up in the heat of the moment, she hadn’t realized that it was basically a love confession. Or that Menma was still there, though she was half-asleep at the moment.

Even as a ghost, she still maintained an earlier bedtime than the two adolescents who had been having a spat in the middle of Naruko’s bedroom.

Naruko removed her panties, leaving herself naked. As Tsuruko had said, her under hair was darker than her head, being closer to the thick, curly brown hair of her youth. It had been trimmed to not show through her bikini line, but was otherwise thick. Naruko thought it made her look mature. A term of approval she was desperate for more than anything.

“Mine looks better,” said Tsuruko. “It’s not as unruly as yours.” She pulled down her panties, revealing her bloody pad inside her panties. Tsuruko’s was thin and feathery, the same shade of blackish-blue as her head. It looked like she had trimmed it into a wing shape across her labia.

“You look smooth,” said Naruko.

“Good hygiene is important,” said Tsuruko. She had yet to return her bath towel, still with red drops of her menstruation showing, and set it beneath her on the chair. “This jungle cruise might have some bloody danger.”

“You can do that?” asked Naruko.

“You’re telling me you never even tried?” asked Tsuruko. “I’d hoped you were more knowledgeable than this. I’ll have you know that at least Yukiatsu knows his way around a pair of panties.”

Naruko’s eyebrow raised. “You have the nerve to tell me off, when you’ve been going down on Yukiatsu?”

“I mean I know which panties look best with his dick. He keeps asking me about it. I think it’s a masturbation thing, but I’ll have no problem asking him to stroke it in front of me. He keeps asking for praise and rewards for his good grades, and only ever asks me. It just got to this point, and I have no idea how it ended up here,” said Tsuruko.

The two of them had almost come clean with each other, but it was phrased in such a way that each of them could say it only happened in a fit of anger.

Naruko broke the tension by opening the drawer on her bedside table. Inside was a pink vibrator with a fresh pair of batteries. She placed a condom over the phallus, and handed it to Tsuruko.

“Aki and Haruna gave it to me as a birthday present. I haven’t shown it to mom yet, but I know she has one of her own, especially for when dad’s at work,” said Naruko. “I don’t want you to get bloody from masturbating with me, so... here. You can borrow it. Just for tonight, okay? My pussy’s super accustomed to it.”

Sharing things with each other had always been common among the Super Peace Busters. When Tsuruko needed a pen for her drawings, Naruko was always glad to lend one out. It warmed Tsuruko’s heart that she hadn’t entirely changed, even if the animus between them remained.

“What are you going to masturbate to?” asked Tsuruko. “Don’t you need material?”

“I have my fantasies,” Naruko said. “And the sight of you masturbating. I was hoping we could turn each other on. Just don’t tell anyone what my O-face looks like. Promise?”

“It’s a promise,” said Tsuruko.

Tsuruko’s clit poked out of its hood. She was already excited, and placed the tip of the vibrator against herself at its lowest setting. The gentle buzz stimulated her clit, drawn forward to her wettening lips. Tsuruko began lifting her hand towards her breasts. Massaging her chest while she masturbated helped her cum faster. She wanted to stimulate as much of her body at once.

Naruko had her fingers inside her pussy. She bent over on her bed, raising her ass in the air. With her cheeks spread open and her light brown asshole visible to Tsuruko, her friend got an idea of just how big Naruko’s butt really was. It wasn’t especially wide, but it was round. A plushy bubble butt that would feel nice to have sitting on your lap. If she ever got more intimate with Jintan, he could get close to orgasm from the rubbing of her ass alone.

Naruko and Tsuruko moaned. Their moans were high pitched, occasionally turning into a guttural growl from the depths of their gut. Their faces tensed up, brows heavy with sweat, as they masturbated themselves into a primal state of arousal. Even Naruko’s armpits were starting to become stuffy, staining Naruko’s room with her feminine scent once again. It was becoming stronger the older she got. Not even air freshener could hide her masturbation habits from her mother.

With her free hand, Naruko stuck one of her fingers in her butt. She wedged the finger inside her asshole, nudging it around the wrinkles of her anus. As she dug in, twisting herself into an erotic pose, she began to feel the pressure from her pussy and her butt at the same time. This was Naruko’s shameful masturbation pose, the truth of her kinks that she didn’t want to share with Tsuruko. At least, not now. If they had been closer, they would have already known this from countless sleepovers.

“You finger your own ass? That’s dirty. You’re a dirty girl, Anaru. Anaru the butt-lover!” said Tsuruko.

“Anaru! Anaru!” chanted Menma in the background.

“I told you, don’t call me that!” said Naruko. “This is all your fault anyway! You guys kept giving me kanchou. I wanted to toughen my butt against it, but the more I stuck my fingers up there, the more I... liked it. My butt’s really sensitive.”

“Isn’t there... poop in there?” asked Tsuruko.

“That’s why I was pooping, geez. I wouldn’t masturbate if my ass wasn’t clean! It’s so clean you could lick it!” said Naruko.

“Do you... want... me to lick your ass?” asked Tsuruko.

“If it’s practice for Jintan doing it...” said Naruko.

Tsuruko turned up the intensity on the vibrator. She lowered her panties, revealing the pad had become stained with her period blood and love juices. It was wet and sticky, leaving a line of nectar trailing from her lips down to her underwear. She placed the tip of the vibrator inside her, edging it further in until she was stimulating her inner walls and her clit at the same time. Her body twitched, starting to go numb with pleasure. Her cramps seemed to go away in an instant, replaced only by the warm buzzing in her stomach.

“This feels... so good...” said Tsuruko. “Your friends know how to pick a vibrator. Maybe it’s a good thing they’re easy.”

“They’re not easy...” said Naruko.

“I doubt either of them is an anal freak like you,” said Tsuruko.

“You’re the one who wants to suck off the honors student!” said Naruko.

“Better than giving a slacker the only pleasure he’ll get that isn’t his hand!” said Tsuruko. “I bet you’ve been giving Poppo pity fucks, too!”

“Pity?” said Naruko, sounding increasingly exasperated. “He’s a huge dork, but he’s got a huge dork, too! Have you seen his dong? That scrawny little kid grew up into a fine young man.”

“You have done him!” said Tsuruko.

“No I haven’t! I was curious and looked when he was peeing,” said Naruko. “If you were at the clubhouse, you’d want to look, too. Getting older doesn’t mean the tension between us has gone away...” she moaned, two of her fingers swirling around in her butt as she worked her clit with her thumb. “...it’s still there. Just sexual now. I don’t know how to deal with that stuff.”

“I don’t either!” said Tsuruko.

Their argument was replaced by moaning as they approached climax simultaneously. Naruko squirted over her bedsheets, while Tsuruko filled up the pad in her panties with blood and grool. Naruko’s asshole had been opening and closing, breathing from her fingering it, that some of the air that had gotten in escaped with an embarrassing noise. The two of them panted heavily, looking at each other straight on. They had both seen each others’ O-faces, and were unsure of what to say next.

“That was really intense,” said Naruko.

“Does it feel... good to orgasm with your butt?” asked Tsuruko. “Having condoms in my room is embarrassing.”

“I can teach you. I mastered it during middle school,” said Naruko. “This is going to sound weird, but there was this RPG I was playing, and the main character was really handsome. There were drawings and stories...”

Menma interrupted and placed herself in the conversation once again. “Is that sex? It looks like it feels good.”

“Sort of,” said Naruko. “It’s sex you can do alone.”

“I wish I was able to experience that,” said Menma. “Thanks for letting me see it. Periods and sex and growing up sounds scary... but it also sounds really exciting. I’m glad I can still have you as my friends, even now.”

“If you want to visit my house for a little longer, it’s fine,” said Tsuruko. “I have a book about plesiosaurs you might like to read.”

“That sounds cool, too!” said Menma. “Anaru, Tsuruko. Good night!”

“Good night, Menma.”

The rest of the night was followed by sleeping. Tsuruko looked over across the bed, and saw Naruko masturbating herself one more time before she went to sleep. It must have been a nightly routine for her. All those hormones she didn’t know what to do with. It was an awkward time for the both of them.

When they woke up the next morning, Naruko saw that something had been printed from her Game Boy Printer. It looked like an ofuda, with the characters for 時間再試行 printed on it in a blocky font.

“Time Retry,” Naruko said. “The printer can’t do something like this. Maybe there’s some truth to those ghost stories after all.”

* * *

 

The next day, Naruko was getting lunch at a family restaurant with Aki and Haruna. She wasn’t going to be attending any more mixers, but wanted to keep in touch with her friends. Aki and Haruna were perceptive, and noticed that Naruko looked more tired than usual. Not even the soda was giving her the vibrancy she usually had.

“Something happen to you last night?” asked Aki.

“Your clothes aren’t even on right,” said Haruna.

“Say, do you two think it’s weird to masturbate with a friend?” Naruko asked.

“Why? Do you want to?” asked Aki.

“I... did. With Tsurumi,” said Naruko.

“That girl who called us loose? Maybe she’s a real sex freak inside if she’s willing to go that far with you,” said Aki. “I thought you hated her.”

“She’s a childhood friend. It’s complicated,” said Naruko.

“If you want to get off with us, we’re open to it. I wanna know what sort of naughty fantasies you’ve been having about Yadomi,” said Haruna.

“It has to be where my mom can’t see us. I’ve almost gotten caught too many times. And I want to set foot inside a love hotel for real. Without being forced into it,” said Naruko.

“It’s a date,” said Aki. “We’ll bring the toys, you bring the joys.”

“I hear love hotels have pretty big baths, too. Though most of the bathwater might be displaced by your huge tits,” said Haruna.

“They’re not that big,” said Naruko.

The topic of conversation turned to school. Naruko leafed through her bag, finding the ofuda that had been printed out last night. She was going to take it to the shrine after school. It was the natural place for spirits to gather.


	4. Agape

Naruko approached the shrine by her lonesome. She wasn’t sure if Menma was watching her as she approached. She took out the ofuda from her pocket, and held it up to the shrine. A crisp wind blew past her, shaking the flimsy piece of paper in her hand. The paper became nearly transparent in the light of the sunset.

“I was silly for thinking something like that could happen,” Naruko said. “Just because Menma’s hanging around, it doesn’t mean she has supernatural powers. Ghosts can only do that sort of stuff in folklore.”

The paper slipped from her hand, and fell into the offertory box. Moments after, the box began to glow with an otherworldly shine. It was a bluish-gray light that looked out of place compared to the reds and oranges of the Chichibu sunset. Fumbling around for something, Naruko rang the bell on the shrine.

The bell began to echo, and the world around Naruko shook. She closed her eyes, holding onto the box to gain a foothold as the world appeared to dissolve around her. The bell rang five times. When the last echo ceased to a halt, Naruko looked around. She checked the date on her phone.

“Five years ago. Time retry...” Naruko said. “This date is... the day that Menma dies. What am I doing at the shrine? Am I even in this world, or am I a ghost now?”

“You’re physically here,” said a voice over her shoulder. It was Menma, now clearly visible, if transparent. “I asked the god of the shrine if we could get a chance to try once more. I wanted Jintan to make this trip, but you showed me what I was missing by not growing up. I love you, Anaru! You only get one chance at this!”

Menma faded away, her last words of “one chance” repeating in Naruko’s head. It was early in the morning, just after dawn. She still had several hours before the afternoon meeting of the Super Peace Busters convened, and the question would be asked that would change their future. She didn’t want to ponder any longer on what that might mean for her. The Anaru standing here had been completely influenced by the events of Menma’s passing. Without them, what would become of her?

She knew where her own house was. She didn’t want to go there. Running into her younger self could cause a time paradox that not even Menma’s small supernatural abilities could handle. Still, having a chance to talk to her younger self, she wanted to tell her the things that she knew now. The things she wished she had known then.

Naruko looked into her school bag and tore a page out of her notebook. She sat down on a tree stump by the shrine, and wrote a letter to her younger self. She would drop it in the mailbox before she left, instructing her younger self not to open it until she reached middle school.

_“Dear Naruko,_

_“Don’t worry so much about your appearance. You don’t have to be beautiful like Menma. You’re already beautiful. Your dark, curly hair. Your glasses. The way you’re a little pudgy. You’ll outgrow it soon enough. Tsuruko’s eyesight will require glasses soon, so don’t be afraid to keep yours around. You might be able to help her pick out frames. You can be rather fashionable once you stop worrying._

_“All of your friends care about you. There are things you don’t want to say to each other because you’re young, but once you get older, you’ll realize how important saying them is. Once you get to high school, the world and your priorities change in such a quick way you’ll wonder where the time went._

_“Playing video games doesn’t make you uncool. It got you closer to Menma, and you might even get a part time job in a place surrounded by video games. You’ll have knowledge that’ll impresses your boss and your customers. Maybe even help young girls like yourself discover the same joy and passion you have now._

_“Most of all, don’t forget to love yourself. Confidence is one thing that’ll get you through all the tough times. It’s okay to be sad, too. Be the best Naruko you want to be. And when you discover what Anaru means, it’s okay to feel embarrassed by it. In time, it will also be a cherished memory._

_“Signed, A Close Friend.”_

She left the letter behind, hoping that it would reach her younger self. Even if the plan to save Menma didn’t work out, it was good to have a backup plan to ensure that the future could change at least a little bit. She didn’t know if the Naruko as she was now would survive this. That was a question for another time.

She made a small stop at the Lawson to pick up some food for herself. If she was going to be staying in the past, she didn’t know if she’d be able to do everything she wanted. She wasn’t supposed to exist in this time period, at least not looking like this. While she was there, she picked up a pack of gummy candies. She thought they might come in handy later.

After looking around the town, seeing sights that had closed down and changed five years in the future, she made her way towards the mountain park where the Super Peace Busters’ secret base was located. The makeshift house was rather sturdy. It was able to withstand even snow and rain, a perfect place for meeting up in any season. Naruko hoped that once the Peace Busters stopped using it, another group of kids could make it their clubhouse.

It wasn’t long before a young Jintan came walking down the path, the leader of the club making his way towards the place where his friends gathered. The Red of their group of Sentai heroes, he still had the youthful exuberance that had drawn all of his friends to his side in spite of their disparate interests.

“He’s so cute!” Naruko thought. “His mom’s still alive, too. It’s like he’s a different person.” She stood in his way, holding out her hands.

“Who are you? You’re a strange looking girl,” said Jintan.

“I’m Anjou... Sonoko. Naruko’s... cousin. From Hokkaido,” said Naruko.

“Sonoko...” said Jintan. “You’re Asoko!”

Naruko cringed in embarrassment. She had found a nickname even worse than her old one. The young Jintan flipped up her skirt while she was fuming, exposing her black panties. Jintan had sparkles in his eyes, like he had discovered something he wasn’t supposed to be. He ran past Naruko, chanting his nickname for her as he left.

“Hold up, Jinta- you little brat!” Naruko said.

“What is it, miss?” asked Jintan, turning around.

“You’re going to play with your friends, right?” she asked.

“Yeah! We’re the Super Peace Busters! We protect the peace in Chichibu!” said Jinta. “How did you know?”

“You’re sort of famous around here,” said Naruko. She reached into her bag and fumbled for the gummies she had purchased earlier. “I’ll give you these Rider gummies if you do something for me.”

“Free gummies?” asked Jintan. “I can get those whenever I want.”

“You can’t get them and get to look up a girls’ skirt, you little pervert,” said Naruko. “What would you do if someone asked you to confess to them?”

“I don’t like anyone! Not in that way! Just because I’m friends with Anaru and Menma and Tsuruko doesn’t mean I like them,” said Jintan.

Naruko bent down until she was at his eye level. “Why not? Being honest with your feelings is important. If they hear that you like them, they’ll be happy. It’s only puppy love. That doesn’t mean it’s going to stick around forever.”

“But it’s embarrassing,” said Jintan. “I just want to play superheroes. I don’t want to think about things like love right now.”

“Even superheroes have loved ones that they fight for. Who do the Super Peace Busters fight for?” asked Naruko.

“For our families. And the town. And each other. Of course we’re friends, we wouldn’t break up!” said Jintan. “The Super Peace Busters are friends forever!”

“Friends are also honest with each other,” said Naruko, passing the gummies into his hand. “Share these with everybody. Sweets always help to ease the tension around something.”

“Thanks, Miss Asoko. I hope we can meet again,” said Jintan.

“One more thing,” said Naruko. “Don’t play along the riverbank. The ground’s really unstable there, and there’s no guardrail. The river’s really rough at this time of year. It can easily sweep away little kids like you.”

Naruko turned her eyes upward, giving Jintan the stern glare of a teacher. He listened, and took the gummies on his way. Naruko left the park, hoping that everything she had done would have an effect on history. She returned to Jourin Temple, and looked around for Menma. Surely she would still be here. Yet there was no sign of Menma’s presence. As the sun began to set, the bell rang on its own. Naruko felt the world begin to shake beneath her feet.

* * *

 

Naruko woke up. The uniform for Odai Fuzoku High was hanging in her closet. She couldn’t remember how she had gotten into the school, but she had clear memories of studying to attend it with her friends. Naruko woke up and started preparing for the day. She looked in the mirror at herself. It was the same self she had been seeing for the past five years, yet it was as though she was looking at a stranger.

Brown, curly hair that was thick in the summer. A pair of wide-rimmed glasses that looked nerdier than Tsuruko’s. A bit of a muffin top that she had developed from playing video games after school. She was lucky the school had a gaming club. She simply wasn’t cut out for sports like Yukiatsu.

“I’m starting to look like my mom,” said Naruko to herself.

“Naruko! Your friends are here to walk you to school!” her mother called out.

Naruko picked up her handheld console and her papers, quickly stuffing them into her bag. She raced down the stairs, her heart beating. There was this nagging feeling in the back of her head, like another version of herself wanted to know the answer to a question that the current her almost immediately understood. She waited by the front door, and heard a voice on the other end that made everything clear.

“Anaru! We don’t want to be late,” said the familiar high pitched voice. “Poppo’s gone ahead on his bike.”

“Menma?” Naruko asked.

It was Menma’s voice. As Naruko left, she remembered a letter she had left in her desk. It was given to her years ago, by a girl that Jintan called “Asoko.” She opened the door, wanting to see what she looked like now. The five years of grief from another life folded into now, and the door to a new page of youth opened.


End file.
